Door holder

ABSTRACT

A door holder including a receptacle unit adapted to be mounted on a wall and having a plastic body member with an outwardly opening central axial cavity, and a plunger unit adapted to be mounted on a door and having an elongated shank with an outer end releasably interengageable in the cavity of the body member.

United States Patent Hansen et al.

[451 July 11,1972

DOOR HOLDER John A. Hansen, Lake Forest; Robert E. Doerrfeld,Lindenhurst, both of Ill.

Assignee: A. L. Hansen Mfg. Co., Gumee, Ill.

Filed: June 17, 1970 Appl. No.: 46,986

Inventors:

Related US. Application Data Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 6,808,Jan. 29, 1970,

abandoned.

U.S. Cl ..292/70, 292/DIG. 19, 292/DIG. 38 Int. Cl. ..EOSc 19/02 Fieldof Search ..292/l4, 16, 17,70, 74, 76,

292/DIG. l5, DIG. 19, DIG. 38; 16/86 A Primary Examiner-Robert L. WolfeAttorney-Johnson, Dienncr, Emrich, Verbeck & Wagner [57] ABSTRACT A doorholder including a receptacle unit adapted to be mounted on a wall andhaving a plastic body member with an outwardly opening central axialcavity, and a plunger unit adapted to be mounted on a door and having anelongated shank with an outer end releasably interengageable in thecavity of the body member.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures DOOR HOLDER This application is acontinuation-in-part application of U. S. Serial No. 6808, and nowabandoned which was filed Jan. 29, 1970.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a doorholder for releasably and selectively maintaining an open swingable doorin spaced relation along a wall.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The door holder of the present inventioncomprises a receptacle unit and a plunger unit. The receptacle unitincludes a metal cup member in which is seated a plastic body memberhaving a cavity formed with an outer annular throat zone, an innercylindrical zone, and an intermediate spherical zone. The plunger unitincludes a mounting flange and an elongated shank having an outersemi-spherical end.

The receptacle unit is adapted to be mounted on a wall by means of asingle fastener having a head disposed in the cylindrical zone. Theplunger unit is adapted to be mounted on a door by means of fastenersdisposed through the mounting flange. The outer end of the shank ismovable through the deformable throat zone to efi'ect interengagement ofthe plunger and receptacle units whereby to selectively maintain thedoor in open position in spaced relation to the wall. Duringinterengagement, the outer shank end is conformably received in thespherical zone; with this arrangement, the outer shank end is maintainedout of contact with the head of the fastener of the receptacle unit andthe door is properly spaced from the wall to accommodate the doorhandle.

When the door is to be closed, the outer shank end is removable from thereceptacle through the deformable throat zone. The door holder of thepresent invention is thus adapted to selectively and releasably hold adoor in spaced relation along a wall, and has particular utility inassociation with the door and wall of a mobile home or the like.

One of the important features of this invention is that the receptacleunit is constructed to selectively adjust the holding force on the outerend of the shank. The holding force is selected by means of varying thedegree of pressure exerted by the head of the fastener on the plasticbody member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of aportion of a wall and of a door maintained open in spaced relation alongthe wall by means of the door holder of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the door holder of FIG.1, showing the plunger unit inter-engaged with the receptacle unit;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken substantially along the line 3-3 inFIG. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a median axial sectional view of the receptacle unit of thedoor holder of FIG. 2, and an elevational view of the outer end portionof the plunger unit interengaged with the receptacle unit; and

FIG. 5 is a view corresponding generally to FIG. 4, but shows the outerend portion of the plunger unit out of interengagement with thereceptacle unit; and

FIG. 6 is a median axial sectional view of the receptacle unit of FIG.1, showing the fastener in its mounting position, with the dotted linesillustrating the displacement of the body member when the fastener istightened to increase the holding force of the receptacle unit.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1, thereis identified by the reference numeral 10 a fragmentary portion of awall of a mobile home or the like. The wall 10 is provided with anopening 12 at one side of which is hingedly mounted a door 14 having aconventional door knob assembly 16 on each side of the door. The

door 14 is svvingable between a closed position within the opening I2and an open position along the wall 10. The door 14 is adapted to beselectively maintained in open position in spaced relation to the wall10 by means of a door holder indicated generally by the referencenumeral 18.

As shown in FIG. 2, the door holder 18 of the present inventioncomprises a receptacle unit 20 on the wall 10, and a plunger unit 22 onthe door 14.

The receptacle unit 20 (FIGS. 4 and 5) includes a circular metal cupmember 24, and a body member 26 press fitted or otherwise seated in thecup member 24. The body member 26, which is fabricated of a temporarilyelastically defonnable plastic, such as nylon or Plaskon 8252 marketedby Allied Chemical Corporation, is provided with an outwardly openingcentral axial cavity 28 and a coaxial mounting hole 20 which is alignedwith an aperture 32 in the cup member 24. A fastener in the fonn of awood screw 34, extends through the mounting hole 30 and aperture 32 andis engaged or threaded in the wall 10 for securing the receptacle unit20 to the wall. The cavity 28 of the body member 26 is formed with anannular throat zone 36 adjacent the outer end thereof, a spherical zone38 immediately inwardly of the throat zone 36, and a cylindrical zone 40which serves to accommodate the head of the fastener 34. Additionally,the throat zone 36 is suitably beveled at its inner and outer ends as at42 and 44.

The plunger unit 22 (FIGS. 2, 3 and 5) includes a base mounting flange46 and an elongated shank 48. The base flange 46 is mounted on the door14 by means of fasteners such as wood screws 50, while the inner end ofthe shank 48 projects through an aperture in the base flange 46 and ispeened or flared over for securing the shank in the base flange. Theouter end 52 of the shank 48 is semi-spherical with a diameter slightlygreater than the diameter of the adjacent section of the shank 48whereby an annular shoulder 54 is defined. The diameter of the outershank end 52 is also slightly greater than the diameter of the throatzone 36.

As the door 14 is swung open and approaches a full open position, theouter end 52 of the shank 48 first contacts the beveled outer end 44 ofthe throat zone 36 (FIG. 6), and is then urged through the throat zoneinto the spherical zone 38 (FIG. 5). With the plunger unit 22 thusinterengaged with the receptacle unit 20 and the shank shoulder 54releasably engaged behind the throat zone 36, the door 14 is selectivelymaintained in open position in spaced relation to the wall 10 toaccommodate the door knob assembly 16 on the side of the door adjacentthe wall. The length of the shank 48 is proportional to the extent ofprojection of the door knob assembly. When the door 14 is pulled awayfrom the wall 10, the shank shoulder 54 initially contacts and slidesalong the beveled inner end 42 of the throat zone 36, and the outershank end 52 is then moved through the throat zone from the positionshown in FIG. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 6 whereby to release thedoor for closing.

As will be appreciated, the throat zone 36 is deformed or enlargedradially outwardly as the outer shank end 52 passes through the zone ineither direction, and thereafter immediately returns to its normalposition shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Also, when the outer shank end 52 isinterengaged in the cavity 28, it is conforrnably received in thespherical zone 38 and is thereby maintained out of contact with the headof the fastener 34. Furthermore, the receptacle unit 20 is mounted onthe wall 10 with a single fastener 34, and the arrangement between thereceptacle and plunger units 20 and 22 is such as to facilitate accuratealignment therebetween during installation of the door holder. In thisconnection, the plunger unit 22 is first mounted on the door 14. Next,chalk or other marking media is applied to the outer shank end 52, andthe door 14 is swung open so that the chalk places a mark on the wall10. Then, the fastener 34 is inserted through the receptacle unit 20 andsecured in the wall 10 at the chalk mark whereby the cavity 20 islocated in line with the shank 48 when the latter is at the position ofinterengagement.

One of the important features of this invention is the ability toselectively vary the holding force on the plunger unit 22 by thereceptacle unit 20. This feature is provided by virtue of the design ofthe inner end of body member 26. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the inner endof body member 26 is formed with an annular recess 58 to define an innerring 60 and an outer concentric ring 62. The outer ring 62 is pressfitted or otherwise seated in the cup member 24. The inner face 64 ofthe inner ring 60 is spaced away from the cup member.

Due to the flexible nature of the body member 26, any inwarddisplacement of inner face 64 causes a proportional radially inward drawon the outer end 66 of body member 26. This inward displacement iseffected by the pushing force exerted by the head 68 of fastener 34 asthe same is being screwed inwardly. The radial inward or outwardmovement of the outer end 66 results in changing the diameter of thethroat and spherical zones 36, 38 to vary the tolerances with aproportional variation in the'holding force of receptacle unit onplunger unit 22.

From the foregoing description of the inner end of body member 26, itwill be appreciated that the holding force of the receptacle unit 20 canbe varied through an infinite range by displacing the inner ring 60 ofbody member 26 by means of turning the head of fastener 34.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is depicted in dotted lines the resultinginward draw or displacement of the outer end 66 of body member 26 whenthe fastener is completely tightened. It will be understood that due tothe firmness of the body member 26, the receptacle unit 20 will be heldrigidly in place when the fastener 34 is in the solid line position ofFIG. 6 as well as the dotted line position.

One major advantage of this adjustable feature is that it will greatlyincrease the useful life of the door holder 18, for as the body member26 loses some of its elasticity after a long period of use, the fastener34 can be tightened until the desired holding force is obtained.

While there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the artthat various rearrangements and modifications may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A door holder for releasably and selectively maintaining an openswingable door in spaced relation along a wall comprising a receptacleunit including a metal cup member and an elastic body member havingformed in its inner end an annular recess to define an outer ringportion and a concentric inner ring portion, where the inner face ofsaid inner ring portion is disposed inwardly of the inner face of saidouter ring portion, said outer ring portion is seated in said cupmember, an outwardly opening central axial cavity formed in said bodymember and extending through a substantial part of the length of saidinner ring portion, an axial opening formed from the inner end of saidcavity to said inner face of said inner ring portion and in registrywith an aperture formed in said cup member, and a fastener having a headengaging the inner end of said cavity and extending through said axialopening and said aperture for mounting said receptacle unit on one ofsaid wall or door, and a plunger unit adapted to be mounted on the otherof said wall or door and including an elongated shank having an outerend releasably interengageable in said cavity of said body member.

2. The door holder of claim 1 wherein said cavity of said body member isformed with an annular throat zone adjacent the outer end thereof, andwherein said outer end of said shank is semi-spherical with a diameterslightly greater than the diameter of said throat.

3. The door holder of claim 1 wherein said cavity of said body member isformed with a spherical zone immediately inwardly of said throat zonefor conformably receiving said outer end of said shank, and wherein thesection of said shank adjacent said outer end thereof has a smallerdiameter than that of said outer end of said shank whereby an annularshoulder is defined for releasable engagement behind said throat zone. 7

4. A door holder for releasably and selectively maintaining an openswingable door in spaced relation along a wall comprising a receptacleunit including a metal cup member and an elastic body member havingformed in its inner end an annular recess to define an outer ringportion and a concentric inner ring portion, where the inner face ofsaid inner ring portion is disposed inwardly of the inner face of saidouter ring portion, said outer ring portion is seated in said cupmember, an outwardly opening central axial cavity formed in said bodymember and extending through a substantial part of the length of saidinner ring portion, an axial opening formed from the inner end of saidcavity to said inner face of said inner ring portion and in registrywith an aperture formed in said cup member, and a fastener having a headengaging the inner end of said cavity and extending through said axialopening and said aperture for mounting said receptacle unit on one ofsaid wall or door, where the diameter of the outer end of said cavitydecreases as said fastener is tightened to proportionally increase theholding force of said receptacle unit, and a plunger unit adapted to bemounted on the other of said wall or door and including an elongatedshank having an outer end releasably interengageable in said cavity ofsaid body member.

5. The door holder of claim 4 wherein said cavity of said body member isformed with an annular throat zone adjacent the outer end thereof, andwherein said outer end of said shank is semi-spherical with a diameterslightly greater than the diameter of said throat.

6. The door holder of claim 5 wherein said cavity of said body member isformed with a spherical zone immediately inwardly of said throat zonefor conforrnably receiving said outer end of said shank, and wherein thesection of said shank adjacent said outer end thereof has a smallerdiameter than that of said outer end of said shank whereby an annularshoulder is defined for releasable engagement behind said throat zone.

1. A door holder for releasably and selectively maintaining an openswingable door in spaced relation along a wall comprising a receptacleunit including a metal cup member and an elastic body member havingformed in its inner end an annular recess to define an outer ringportion and a concentric inner ring portion, where the inner face ofsaid inner ring portion is disposed inwardly of the inner face of saidouter ring portion, said outer ring portion is seated in said cupmember, an outwardly opening central axial cavity formed in said bodymember and extending through a substantial part of the length of saidinner ring portion, an axial opening formed from the inner end of Saidcavity to said inner face of said inner ring portion and in registrywith an aperture formed in said cup member, and a fastener having a headengaging the inner end of said cavity and extending through said axialopening and said aperture for mounting said receptacle unit on one ofsaid wall or door, and a plunger unit adapted to be mounted on the otherof said wall or door and including an elongated shank having an outerend releasably interengageable in said cavity of said body member. 2.The door holder of claim 1 wherein said cavity of said body member isformed with an annular throat zone adjacent the outer end thereof, andwherein said outer end of said shank is semi-spherical with a diameterslightly greater than the diameter of said throat.
 3. The door holder ofclaim 1 wherein said cavity of said body member is formed with aspherical zone immediately inwardly of said throat zone for conformablyreceiving said outer end of said shank, and wherein the section of saidshank adjacent said outer end thereof has a smaller diameter than thatof said outer end of said shank whereby an annular shoulder is definedfor releasable engagement behind said throat zone.
 4. A door holder forreleasably and selectively maintaining an open swingable door in spacedrelation along a wall comprising a receptacle unit including a metal cupmember and an elastic body member having formed in its inner end anannular recess to define an outer ring portion and a concentric innerring portion, where the inner face of said inner ring portion isdisposed inwardly of the inner face of said outer ring portion, saidouter ring portion is seated in said cup member, an outwardly openingcentral axial cavity formed in said body member and extending through asubstantial part of the length of said inner ring portion, an axialopening formed from the inner end of said cavity to said inner face ofsaid inner ring portion and in registry with an aperture formed in saidcup member, and a fastener having a head engaging the inner end of saidcavity and extending through said axial opening and said aperture formounting said receptacle unit on one of said wall or door, where thediameter of the outer end of said cavity decreases as said fastener istightened to proportionally increase the holding force of saidreceptacle unit, and a plunger unit adapted to be mounted on the otherof said wall or door and including an elongated shank having an outerend releasably interengageable in said cavity of said body member. 5.The door holder of claim 4 wherein said cavity of said body member isformed with an annular throat zone adjacent the outer end thereof, andwherein said outer end of said shank is semi-spherical with a diameterslightly greater than the diameter of said throat.
 6. The door holder ofclaim 5 wherein said cavity of said body member is formed with aspherical zone immediately inwardly of said throat zone for conformablyreceiving said outer end of said shank, and wherein the section of saidshank adjacent said outer end thereof has a smaller diameter than thatof said outer end of said shank whereby an annular shoulder is definedfor releasable engagement behind said throat zone.